Poetry
You got in the way (A Caregiver's respite)
Your memories have long since gone away
Still, I wait for you to say
Through shadows of years and mists of tears
Let me laughen-up your day
That's what you'd always smile and say
Since so many years ago I lay
Upon this sand, my life all planned
When you got in my way
I'll not rest while your away
In hope that you'll return one day
Won't let this heart break apart
I pray you've only lost your way
But there's nothing more that I can say
As I walk the sand alone today
I cling to sweetest memories
When you got in my way
Sorrowful Mother
South to Bucyrus he saw the sign.
'One half mile - Sorrowful Mother Shrine'
He didn't stop, preferring to imagine
What his sorrowful mother shrine might be.
Whose mother knows not the sorrow
Of disappointment and love undone;
Of nights awake, waiting alone
Beside an uncaring, unringing phone?
A lone stalk of corn standing tall, unbended
Is his sorrowful mother shrine imagined.
Passing field after cornfield, uncountable stalks
Surround graves at Evangelical Pietist Church.
Without sorrow can our joy be as full?
Will mother stand as tall and unbending?
He imagines so - then stops along the road to eat
Where the corn is ripe and the melon sweet.
Christmas
When fall is frozen over
The moon is slivered shut;
When the tree is trimmed and ready
To gather presents underfoot;
It's then I like to sit with you
In silence by the hearth
And reminisce about old friends
From whom we are apart.
No visit from St. Nicholas
Or carol sung on high
Can warm my heart as surely as
Your words from time gone by.
You say, "It always snows for Christmas!"
Still I laugh and don't believe, but
Fall is frozen over and
The moon is slivered shut
Christmas Card
But, you deserve more than Hallmark card greetings;
More than just online gifts with no meaning.
So, let me write only what needs to be said,
And pray - Wrap with love all our gifts from above.
Merry Christmas
